Although inspection systems are available which can detect and locate defects in a running product web, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,853, no systems are known which can simultaneously "zone", at on-line speeds, the defect bearing portions of the product web in such way as to maximize product yield without the need for marking the defective regions or otherwise identifying these regions once determined.
Heretofore, manual reinspection of defective product sheets has been required to determine the best way to cut the finished defective sheet when the locations, numbers and types of defects were seen visually. However, in the case of X-ray film, for example, many types of defects are difficult to see visually, making manual reinspection costly and time-consuming, thus adversely affecting the rate at which product can be released for sale.
Indeed, in the course of manual reinspection, frequently entire sheets containing salvagable regions would be discarded in order to expedite production. For high unit cost products, such practices are obviously intolerable. An object of this invention is to provide a method and means to reduce this waste and enhance product yield.